It seemed I’d hardly pushed the publish button on my previous blog, below, when news popped up online that one of the members of the group mentioned in it had died – suddenly, unexpectedly. I never met Rich in person, never expected to – he lives in USA. I knew him only through his contributions to member discussions – astute, informed, helpful, and often very funny. Bringing the comic relief to the list of comments is a role he took seriously – mrrwaah, as he might say. Or something similar, given we have different accents. Despite the fact we never met, I’ve felt his loss. It’s also made me think further about the global nature of society now. I learned about this within an hour or two of it happening. When my great-grandparents came to this country, such news would have taken six months to work its way across the world. Now, within a few hours not only had the information spread but another friend had set up an online site for donations towards funeral expenses. What a great world, I thought, as I sat down at my keyboard. As Rich would have said – “I done dood it.”

​I try to keep a good balance of my time between getting exercise and being at my desk and computer – it’s easier when the weather warms from winter into spring as it is here now. Daylight saving time coming up – great, I’m a fan. As I am for the way one can so easily access information and keep in touch with the world through the internet – another reason for spending time at my desk each day.Even social media, the side of the internet people so often love to hate, has its big plus side. I now count among my friends many people I have never met in person, probably will never meet face to face, but whom I feel I know well. Many of them are fellow authors who are located all over the globe. Among them is Jackie Weger who founded eNovel Authors at Work, of which I’m happy to be one of the select group of members – all very supportive. Jackie lives in Texas, USA, some 12,000 kms away from Auckland but recently we met for a neighbourly cyber chat on her porch. Why don't you join us - you'll find us here –http://jackieweger.com/back-porch-cyber-chatter-with-bronwyn-elsmore/

We’re in ELUFFANT mode again – Election Lead-Up Free-For-All Nuisance Time. Even though voting papers for the local-body elections have not yet arrived the vote-for-me frenzy is underway. With a fight for mayoralty, city council, and the local licensing trust, squads of candidates are lining up to do battle, all fervent in their belief that they’re the best for the job. And since they’re all ardent about giving me advice on how to cast my vote, it seems only fair to let them know how I decide between them. So here, for their consideration, is my system, outlined via this non-polluting, cost-free, environmentally-friendly, opt-in method. I’ve got this spread-sheet pinned up, the ELUFFANT in my office, with your name, and columns and cells to enter numbers. When I learn anything about you, I give you a score 1-10 on how it rates with me. These are positive points. They’re balanced by a section for negative points, which you should particularly know about as they put most candidates seriously in deficit. • BIN points: Brochure In No-circulars marked letterbox – minus 10 for each infringement. Okay, so you didn’t deliver it personally, but if you failed to instruct your minions not to ignore my wishes, you won’t represent me well. And, anyway, how does your glossy, full-colour pamphlet align with your stated concern for the environment? • BINEX points: an extreme extension of the above – minus 20-50 points for brochures found littering the street or multiple copies stuffed behind fences. • PIMBY points: Pollution In My Backyard – minus 20 points for each billboard erected and despoiling my local area. Warning: signs blocking a pleasant view, or adding to the danger of any street corner may incur increased penalty. • SAPP points: Stated Affiliation with a Political Party – minus 10 points. SAPPEX – deduction can be doubled in extreme cases. • SOOC points: Slagging Off Other Contestants – minus 15. Deduction made for each instance. • UnPC points – Unsolicited Phone Call – minus 25. Deduction made for each instance.

​So there it is. Please note, come polling day it’s often the hopeful with neutral points who wins the tick.

News Updates

If you would like to receive an email when this site is updated, please send a message to flaxroots@gmail.comwith “Flaxroots updates” in the subject line. It will be occasional – you will not be inundated, and your details will not be passed on to anyone else.